Ferries to both Denmark and Sweden being relatively inexpensive and quick, I had been planning to visit both countries since I first arrived in Rostock. It took me until yesterday to finally get around to it, however, and now I'm just glad the whole thing is behind me.
The plan was to board a ferry early Thursday morning to the Swedish port city of Trelleborg, take a bus to Malmö, cross this beautiful bridge/tunnel via train into Copenhagen, and then return to Trelleborg to hop on an overnight ferry back to Rostock at 23:00. (I affectionately refer to this method of traveling as blitz-touring.)

Unfortunately, after waking up at five o'clock in the morning and arriving at the terminal, I was told that the ferry was going to be very late and it'd probably be best if I switched tickets for the next day's ferry. I complied, only slightly chagrined, and yesterday morning I boarded the ferry and arrived in Sweden without a hitch--until I was escorted to the terminal counter and told that the ferry back to Rostock was going to depart four hours late, at about 3 AM. Furthermore, it was explained to me so sickeningly sweetly, the terminal would close at 23:00 so I would have to be transported to an administrative office and wait there until I could board.

My blitz-tour went well, and I arrived back to the terminal to be transported to my waiting area. Amazingly, it seemed that I was the only passenger for whom this four hour delay posed a problem, for I never saw another passenger until after boarding. Indeed, I didn't see any workers or anyone else on the entire port even as I was boarding the ship in the wee hours of the morning--the port was desolate.

It was a very odd experience, and I didn't get back to Rostock until 9 AM this morning. Interested readers can watch this brief video I shot shortly after boarding the ferry--it's basically just me talking to myself about the strangeness of the day's happenings, but it's somewhat entertaining. Enjoy.